The Mountain of Health – Inside, Outside, Emergency

There is one major resource that I know is truly scarce in Haiti; Medical services. This will probably be my most controversial post, please read carefully. This is One area where foreign influence should make a swift and significant change.

I volunteered at a hospital, to start the process of “informatiser”; converting the all-paper filing system, to a database of documents with unique file numbers. This helps patients access their medical history if/when they return to the hospital for additional care, saves time for the workers in the office, and may even help nurses and doctors do a better job because details about patients are more accessible..

It is a private hospital, where existing patients have a membership card entitling them to service, and each new patient usually receives a file and file number. On January 12, with thousands coming to the hospital with emergencies, the admissions office stopped creating files and file numbers. March 17, the day I arrived at the hospital, the Founder of the hospital had just discovered this problem, by speaking with employees in the Admissions Office.

There are many other technical difficulties at the facility.  The hospital does not have a way for employees to share documents and work on databases at the same time. Everyone has a jump drive, which they use to copy files back and forth on their computers. The internet is VERY slow and goes down frequently. There are two 2 mysterious satellite dishes (noone knows what they are for), and one or two heavy-duty medical database servers, which are totally unused in a jumble of wires in a corner of a closet.

There are many horrible rumors about this hospital before AND after the disaster, which I cannot speak about since I was not there. I will say that I read signs at the hospital, stating staff attempted to extort money from patients (which is forbidden, obviously) but the system of administration itself causes economic segregation…

As I mentioned, starting on January 12, standard hospital procedures went out the window. All hospitals still standing after the earthquake, were told to open their doors to the public and offer free care. But there was not enough staff and supplies to serve everyone, so wealthier patients probably ended up getting better care. Eyewitnesses told me that Haitian nurses did not clean wounds, which turned into gangrene on limbs that were later taken off by foreign doctors.

When foreign medical professionals started arriving, they set up a clinic outside under tents, to treat the overflow of suffering patients. This “outside” hospital eventually began to be used as a place to send patients that cannot pay, unless they have an emergency and/or require surgery, which must be done inside the hospital building.  The hospital is clearly billing whoever they can (I saw the payments spreadsheet be calculated in front of me), and affording privileges to them. This is not necessarily wrong! But it IS hypocritical, if you are supposed to be serving the entire community with the same standard of care.

In the meantime, I observed dozens of visitors from the United States and Europe take strategically guided tours through the building. I suspect they were potential or existing donors. Despite all the donations sent to the hospital after January 12, the hospital has supposedly run out of money. There is a constant stream of medical supplies from abroad, which are continuously picked away by various people (staff does not keep anything especially valuable in the pharmacy, for example). The situation is much better than it used to be, and I am sorry if I sound too critical.

Within a few days, I created a file code system for the hospital and started an excel spreadsheet for unfiled documents. The Chief Administrator was pleased I took the initiative to create it, and will make sure employees keep using it. So I am glad I came, but more glad to leave.

The Mountain of Food - Rice, Vegetables, Konbits and NGO’s

As an independent volunteer in Ayiti, I am on the lookout for good organizations to work with, and I found a great one on March 1. It’s called “Food for Life”, and it’s one of only two small foreign NGO’s in Haiti (the other is United Sikhs), that cooks and serves hot food to people living in the “Abrits” camps.

Yes people! With hundreds of millions raised for Haiti, the World Food Program (WFP, called “PAM” in French and Creole) and every other Food distribution organization, gives out DRY food to people without homes or jobs! Many camps receive no food at all. Rice prices, in particular, have gone through the roof, as the WFP bought so much of it from wholesalers, then distributed it to organizations that hoard it and/or leak it to resellers, choking the market and profiteering from the disaster like crazy.

In the meantime, the Haitian government has sent the Prime Minister to talk to Obama, asking for financial resources to create jobs, instead of (or at the same time as) sending “Food Aid”. That is a great idea, except that money is even more prone to corruption in distribution than food. The “Work for Food-Cash” program is highly touted by the United Nations, to compensate people for clearing buildings and other post-disaster labor jobs. Ayiti needs permanent jobs, not BS for NGO’s to make themselves look good and then leave when the Shock Value of the earthquake wears off.

Not only do poor recipients of “Food Aid” have to come up with their own cooking fuel, oil, seasoning, etc… (if they even choose to cook it instead of sell it AGAIN, which is often smarter) but there is no means of “Konbit”. Konbit is a Creole word that means coming together to create and share resources. Since most NGOs don’t maintain relationships with leaders and organizations within the camps (who are more than capable of cooking for their own people), they don’t bother using “Food Aid” to do anything sustainable. If they were to help the people cook on-site, they would have to INVEST in industrial cooking supplies, water access, and waste disposal in the camps, which are other issues they ignore.

My friend Jimmy, who grew up in Port au Prince, has a great idea; to create employment in the camps through Cooking Konbits. He knows that Ayitians would rather work for the future, than receive donations. As people save up money, they will improve or move out of the Abrits.

“Food for Life” is the next best thing, because though foreigners cook the food in a foreign style off-site, they do it with Love, and then serve it directly to the people. I now know each member of the FFL team, who came from Bulgaria, Slovenia, Canada and the USA, to live in tents and volunteer for a minimum of a month. The head cook is a guitar-playing, orange-cloth wearing Hare Krishna monk from South Africa, who wakes up at 3am everyday to cook the beans and vegetables. Food for Life is the ONLY food relief organization in Haiti, that buys locally grown produce. Even United Sikhs sends a truck to the Dominican Republic every day, to buy Dominican AND imported food at half-price from markets in Haiti.

Please consider donating or submitting a volunteer application, to FFL in Haiti: http://haiti.ffl.org

The Mountain of Travel

All my family and friends know that I am a fearless traveler. I usually travel very light, alone (to the naked eye), and on a half a shoestring budget. I take the same “taxis” that locals use, work for free in exchange for accommodation, and am plain old low-maintenance. I prefer a bucket of water to a hotel’s hot shower (I have OCD about conserving resources), home cooked food to restaurants, and spontaneous activities to planned tours. This is not always a good thing! Sometimes I wish I had stayed on Wall Street so I could partake of the expensive fun I miss along the way, and pay/donate more to the local economy and people’s short-term needs.  But it’s worth it, because I have met amazing sources of Light that I wouldn’t have met on any other path, and who give me priceless perspective on long-term change in the Caribbean.

This was my first time bringing so much luggage, and much more money than ever before.  All thanks to contributions from my housemates, friends, neighbors, and family. I never asked or received support for a trip to the Caribbean before, and am so grateful for everyone’s help. This marks a new era, I am no longer on my own. Thank you all!

I was originally scheduled to fly Delta, directly from New York City to Port-au-Prince, on January 28, 2010.

After the disaster, the flight was canceled 3 times (2 times without notice, 1 time at the last minute), with the date changed to February 14 and then February 22, departure city changed to Baltimore, and arrival city changed to Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic.

On February 21, I took the Chinese bus from Philly to Baltimore, so that I could see my parents and sister before leaving.

On February 22, I flew from Baltimore to Atlanta to Miami to Santo Domingo. In Atlanta I stepped out of the terminal to pick up a beautiful Poster (from the co-owner of Initiators Art Gallery & Gift Shop, at Cumberland Mall in Atlanta) as a gift from Afrika in America, to Ayiti. “United as a Nation” by Ben Melech ttp://biblicalblackart.com/_catagory/message/unitedasanation.htm

Caption: “United as a Nation, We Stand… Divided by Religion, We Fall”

On February 23, I took the bus from Santiago to Petion Ville. It took 8 hours instead of the usual 4-6. because of a transmission problem and then a long wait at “La Frontiere” (border of DR and Haiti) to pay taxes and have luggage/passports checked. I slept most of the way. The buses are REALLY nice, drivers very safe and friendly. The bus station is nicer than any Greyhound I’ve been to in America (I’ve been to at least 10 of them in the Midwest and East Coast states).

So finally, after a 3-day trip through 3 countries and 7 cities, I was ecstatic to eat some djon-djon, and fall asleep.

Disclaimer: Traveling into Haiti is usually as smooth and secure as any other country. In the past, Haitian airport security guards have even spotted things in my luggage that American guards missed. Travelling to Haiti will NEVER be this difficult ever again, Ensh Allah, God Willing. DO NOT BE AFRAID TO COME VISIT AYITI!

The Land of High Mountains - Ayiti!

Unity: The state of being One, or united. The land commonly called Haiti, is sometimes seen as far from this definition, because it is a land where we see division and hate between light-skinned and dark-skinned, poor and rich, Christian and Vaudoo, people and land. Even the name of the land itself has been divided from its true name Ayiti, which is the Carib "Indian" word meaning High Mountains. Sometimes it's hard to see behind these seemingly high mountains of division that has been built up, but we must never stop climbing to overcome these divisions and hardships that face us all.

It begins by seeing the unity behind what seems to be opposition. Instead of seeing all of the division in the land of Ayiti, one can choose to see the unique blends that created Creole language & food, Kompa & "Rapsin" (much Love to Zing and DiaspoRap!), critically-acclaimed artwork of all kinds, and roads, architecture and energy in harmony with Nature.

This vision of unity is why I'm going to Ayiti. I want to share the Light of people, places, and projects, capable of healing and unifying Haiti. It may also be necessary to reveal those keeping her sick. This is a long-term endeavor, and I am walking by Faith to discover that.

I am grateful to all who united with me and gave me resources to help Ayiti recover from disaster:
* My sponsor, Philippy, who bought me a ticket to Haiti 3 months before the disaster, to document the tree planting movement around Port-au-Prince
* My Housemates, the Pastor and Mrs. Acosta-Ramsay, who went to door to door with me asking our neighbors to donate extra belongings, and Pray, for Haiti
* My Neighbors on Fillmore Street
* The Chinese & Dominican Cornerstores of the neighborhood
* Darrah Ul-Ihsaan in Philadelphia & the Mourid Cheikh Bethio in Touba, Senegal
* Darrah Touba Indianapolis & the Gregory Family
* Old friends King Waleed in Bloomington, IN & Yaya in Long Island, NY
* New friends Walter & Jean-Marc for hooking me up with the Haitian Evangelical Baptist Church who are sorting, packing and shipping the clothes donated to Haiti for Us!
* Event Planner Sasa & Activist Mustafa
* My Mentor Florcy, of Vivant Art Gallery, Vivant Haitian Relief, & Haitian Professionals of Philadelphia
* Latrice & Levi of Urban Shamans, who trained me to do water filtration, osmosis, environmental education, and
* My Parents in Baltimore, for Pearl and all all my vaccinations and emergency medicines!
* My Aunt's best friend in Ayiti, who's accommodating me in her home

"L'Union Fait La Force"
"Unity is Power"